Linked Languages Resources

Adyghe

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Adyghe language (Adyghe: Адыгэбзэ), adyghabze, also known as West Circassian (КӀахыбзэ), is one of the two official languages
of the Republic of Adygea in the Russian Federation, the other being Russian. It is spoken by various tribes of the Adyghe
people: Abzekh, Adamey, Bzhedug; Hatuqwai, Kemirgoy, Makhosh; Natekuay, Shapsug; Zhane, Yegerikuay, each with its own dialect.
The language is referred to by its speakers as Adygebze or Adəgăbză, and alternatively spelled in English as Adygean, Adygeyan
or Adygei. There are apparently around 128,000 speakers of the language on the native territory in Russia, almost all of them
are native speakers. In the whole world, some 300,000 speak the language. The largest Adyghe-speaking community is in Turkey,
spoken by the post-Russian–Circassian War (c. 1763–1864) diaspora; in addition to that, the Adyghe language is spoken by the
Cherkesogai in Krasnodar Krai. Adyghe belongs to the family of Northwest Caucasian languages. Kabardian (also known as East
Circassian) is a very close relative, treated by some as a dialect of Adyghe or of an overarching Circassian language. Ubykh,
Abkhaz, and Abaza are somewhat more distantly related to Adyghe. The language was standardized after the October Revolution
in 1917. Since 1938, Adyghe has used Cyrillic. Before that, an Arabic-based alphabet was used together with the Latin. Source : DBpedia